Legal know-how
Guides and explainers about Family & Inheritance, written for people who are not lawyers.
The deceased can cut a statutory heir out by will or by a document lodged at the district office, the law excludes heirs who hide estate assets or are unworthy, and an heir can renounce, but only in full and only after the death. What each means and who takes the share.
When a parent or spouse becomes too ill to make decisions, family members can only manage their affairs after a court declares the person incompetent and appoints a guardian. Who may apply, where, which documents you need, and what a guardian still needs court permission for.
A birth in Thailand must be reported within 15 days. Who reports it, where, which documents you need, what happens if you are late, and when a child with a foreign parent is Thai by birth.
The engagement gift belongs to the person who receives it; the sinsod goes to their parents. If the wedding is called off, who must give back what, which losses can be claimed and how fast you must act, under the law as amended in 2025.
A prenuptial agreement lets a couple set their own rules for property during marriage, but it must be made in the right form at the moment the marriage is registered, or it is void. Personal versus marital property, what you can and cannot agree on, and points for foreign spouses.
Who can adopt in Thailand, whose consent is needed, how the trial care for a child works, where an adult adoption is registered, and what an adopted child inherits.
A father who never registered his marriage to the mother is not yet his child's legal father. How to register legitimation at the district office, whose consent you need, when a court must decide, and what the child gains afterwards.
A marriage exists in Thai law only once it is registered. The conditions, the embassy document the foreign partner needs, translation and legalisation, the district office, personal versus marital property, and how to make a valid prenup.
A will that does not follow the required form may be worthless. The five forms under the Thai Civil and Commercial Code, who cannot witness or benefit, making a will at the district office, naming an executor, and changing or revoking a will correctly.
When parents separate, three decisions matter most: who exercises parental power, who pays how much child support, and how the other parent sees the child. The legal rules, what the court looks at, and what to do when an arrangement stops working.
Thai law allows divorce in only two ways: registering it by mutual consent at a district office, or suing in court on a legal ground. The steps, the grounds, the one-year time limit, how marital property is split, with an example, and what to settle about the children.
When a family member dies, their property passes under their will or, without one, to six classes of statutory heirs. Who comes first, what the spouse receives, when you need a court-appointed estate administrator, and the deadlines not to miss.
